I watched a video today in which ‘Rape culture’ was discussed and I’d like to share it with you.

In the video, Clementine Ford discusses her thoughts on the subject of cultural acceptance of rape within society. Ms Ford refers to the socially accepted norms regarding rape as Rape Culture.

I don’t thinks she’s crazy, I just think she lacks perspective

First off, let me say that I don’t think that Ms Ford is crazy, nor a bitch. I don’t think she’s wrong but neither do I think she’s entirely right. I do think, however, that Ms Ford is lacking perspective. “WHOAH! WHOAH! WHOAH!”, I hear you say. I understand that I’m walking on thin ice as a man daring to attempt to discuss this topic, but please don’t break the pitch forks and torches out just yet.

When I suggest that Ms Ford is lacking perspective, I’m not suggesting her opinion is invalid, and I’m definitely not suggesting in any way that there’s not a huge societal issue in regards to the amount of unwanted sexual contact happening against women around the world. Sexual assault has impacted my family, so I’m no stranger to the damage it causes.

What I’m saying is that Ms Ford is looking at some undeniable evidence and coming up with sensible, but inaccurate, hypothesis because her analysis lacks an understanding of the other gender involved.

I’ll freely admit that there is a lot I don’t understand about women, but at least I’m aware of that and I’m not suggesting that all women are after the same things or driven by the same factors. From the video above, I’m not so sure that Ms Ford understands that different men have different reasons for their behaviour, or that the majority of us aren’t directly or indirectly continuing or encouraging ‘rape culture’.

Rape is really shit and shouldn’t happen

Rape is unconscionable. Rapists should go to jail. Nobody deserves to be raped and rape should not be accepted in any way by a modern, civilised society. There should be no question about any of this and anyone who believes rape of any form is justified in any way is misguided to the point of being a danger to society. Ms Ford and I both agree that society should move towards an ideal point at which every woman would be able to work anywhere she pleases, at any time, day or night, and not have to factor in the possibility of being raped.

If we were purely talking about the casual acceptance of rape within society, I don’t have anything to say against that sentiment. There’s definitely room for improvement as far as educating people about the horrible impact of unwanted sexual contact. The number of people, not only girls, who are sexually abused by immediate family members, extended family members, family friends, and peers, is truly a travesty. It’s a huge problem and a blight on otherwise progressive societies. It’s an issue that needs to be addressed and resolved as quickly as possible because lives are constantly being ruined by this insidious behaviour.

But that’s not what Ms Ford is talking about. Ms Ford is discussing the idea that a woman should be able to do whatever she wants, whenever, and wherever she wants, without any fear of potentially being sexually assaulted. Ms Ford is blaming society for casually accepting rape as the root cause for women not currently being able to enjoy her idealised utopic scenario.

Reality

I’m all for being an idealist and working towards that ideal, but we can’t just ignore reality.

The reality is that not only women and girls get raped. The reality is that a lot of rapes could have been avoided with better decision making. The reality is that blaming people who never have and never would rape anyone for the small number of people who do commit rape is not productive. The reality is that the term rape refers to a specific type of sexual assault and is not an appropriate term for all forms of sexual assault. The reality is that ‘rape culture’ is a massive oversimplification of an enourmously complex topic and it’s doing as much harm as good.

Statements like:

“I do think it’s an act of terrorism to raise girls to believe that the world is not safe for them”
– Clementine Ford

are unnecessarily inflammatory. This sort of hyperbolic speech is not helpful, it is so exaggerated that it’s alienating. I personally find it very difficult to take someone seriously when they say things which are so over the top.

It is not an act of terrorism to teach a girl, or a boy, to be cautious about the company they keep and the situations in which they choose to engage. That’s called education. It’s important a child’s survival. We might all want the world to be a safe place, but it doesn’t matter how much we want it to be, the world is not a safe place. To teach children otherwise only makes them more likely to be impacted by the dangers which do exist in the world.

If I had a daughter and I chose not to teach her to be afraid to climb into the lion cage at the zoo, and then she climbs in and gets eaten, I did a bad job educating her to the dangers of the world. If I had a son and I didn’t teach him to be afraid of falling off cliffs, and he later tumbles to his death, I did a bad job of educating him to the dangers of the world.

It’s essential to educate everyone that not everyone they meet will have their best interests at heart. It is essential to educate people that some situations are dangerous, and best avoided. It’s essential to educate people to understand that becoming intoxicated makes them less capable of protecting themselves from those people who don’t have their best interests at heart.Sexual assault is not a gender issue

One of the things that really gets to me about the people who talk about rape culture is, they so often speak of it as if it’s a men versus women thing. Men suffer from this blight on society too. Men get raped, usually as children, but also as fully grown men. The rape of men within prison systems is a known, ignored and mocked part of our zeitgeist. Not only are men often victims of sexual assaults, men also have to help pick up the pieces after someone they love is sexually assaulted, and yet we constantly see quotes like:

Don’t tell women what not to wear TELL MEN NOT TO RAPE

Hang on, let’s think about that for a second.

Does anyone really think most men don’t know they shouldn’t rape people? Honestly? Because I don’t find that when I’m out walking with my girlfriend that I spend the majority of my time fending off would be rapists and having to explain that they shouldn’t be trying to rape people. No, the people who don’t understand that are… wait for it… FUCKING RAPISTS.

And by the way, why are so many people assuming that only men commit sexual assaults? If the point is to do everything we, as a society, can to minimise sexual misconduct, why are we pointing the finger at half the population and assuming they’re all rapists based purely on their gender? Why are we assuming that the other half of the population has zero responsibility purely because of their gender?

That’s what’s fucked up about all this. That men are universally being labeled as rapist monsters who are just waiting to rape and that women are universally being labeled as victims in waiting. That is complete and utter bullshit! Sure, a higher percentage of sexual assaults are enacted by males than females, but does that reduce the impact on the male victims? Hell no.

So instead of making the issue of ‘rape’ a gender issue, how about we address as a problem that is actively ruining the lives of millions of people? How about not trying to point the finger at anyone with a cock and balls and instead just pointing the finger at rapists?

Remember how sexism is bad when it’s against women? It’s just as bad when it’s against men. It’s not reverse-sexism, it’s just sexism.

Consider your audience

‘And he often says to me, “Can we just make it through one dinner where you don’t talk about rape?”
To which I reply, “Can we just make it through one of the Earth’s rotations around the sun where i can walk on the street with as much right to safety as you, just because you have a penis?”

‘ – Clementine Ford, speaking about her boyfriend

You know what the absolute best way is to make someone lose any interest in, and compassion for, a subject? Bombard them with it incessantly until they couldn’t care any more even if they wanted to.

Ms Ford’s boyfriend is clearly going to be on her side about the whole ‘let’s not rape people’ thing, otherwise he wouldn’t be her boyfriend, right? So I’m going to assume he’s not raping her, is extremely unlikely to have raped anyone in the past, or to rape anyone in the future. So why won’t Ms Ford listen to her boyfriend’s request to make it through one dinner without talking about rape?I believe the answer is simple. Ms Ford is misunderstanding who her audience is. She is preaching to the choir, so to speak, but she’s doing it to the point that even the choir doesn’t want to hear about it anymore.Constantly reasserting the facets of our culture which contribute to casual acceptance of rape and a lack of empathy towards victims is, I believe, actually detrimental to the cause of raising awareness. This is because the only people who are actually listening in the first place are the ones who already have enough human decency to understand that rape is a problem. Barking the same lines at those decent human beings over and over will only lead to them running out of care factor.

That might be a horrible fact to acknowledge, but I absolutely believe it’s the truth. Think about it… people lose interest in international tragedies in which thousands of people have died, within weeks, if not days of the disasters. Why would the term Rape Culture not also become something that people begin to tune out?

Blame

One of the aspects of the rape culture movement that I think has been a benefit to society is the effort to identify victim blaming and to provide valid and indisputable counter arguments.

There is no excuse to rape someone and I hope that bringing that to the attention of people will help to reassure anyone who has been sexually assault to stop making allowances and/or excuses for their attackers and instead go and report them to the authorities. Anything that increases the legitimate prosecution of sexual predators is a good thing.

What’s not a good thing is confusing blame, with logic.

To point out that you’re less likely to get raped if you stay at home in your own bed completely sober, than going to a frat party and getting drunk out of your mind and using every drug you can find is not an effort towards blaming a victim, it’s stating a fact. There’s no denying that women do get raped in their beds at home, but the frequency with which that occurs is much lower than the incidences of sexual assaults at parties in which young women are consuming large quantities of alcohol and narcotics.

Pointing out a fact is not the same as blaming the victim.

To suggest that it’s a bad idea for an attractive young woman to go to a drug and alcohol fueled party being hosted by a group of young men who are used to getting away with everything, and then get drunk and use drugs there, is a bad idea… that’s not blaming the young woman, that’s just being rational.

To tell that same young girl the day after the party that she was raped by those young men would be far worse than telling her not to go in the first place.

Yes, there are people out there in the world who would say to that rape victim that she was “asking for it”, and that’s fucked up, but it’s also ridiculous to pretend that she couldn’t have made better decisions.

That image above stating “Don’t tell women what not to wear, Tell men not to rape” isn’t very helpful, and it’s an example of the black and white thinking which pollutes sensible thinking about how to reduce sexual assaults. For starters, teaching men not to rape does not preclude us from also teaching women what attire might draw unwanted attention.

No, I didn’t just say that if a woman should be raped if she is wearing the wrong clothes. What I did say was that some clothes draw the wrong attention. Walking through the wrong areas also increases the likelihood of receiving unwanted attention. Being overly flirtatious also increases the likelihood of receiving unwanted attention. Again, I’m not saying that any of that is ok, I’m just saying that’s what happens.

So, instead of assuming that I’m assigning blame, how about considering if there’s a potential benefit to avoiding unwanted attention?

I’m a guy who is 190cm (6’3″) tall, currently weighing in at 90kg (200lbs), and I try to avoid unwanted attention. I do so because, even though I know it’s illegal for someone to stab me, and even though I don’t like that society hasn’t completely eliminated stabbings, I’d still prefer to avoid situations in which I know I’m more likely to be stabbed. I’m not going to assume that anytime I walk through a neighbourhood renowned for gang violence late at night that I’m going to get stabbed, but I am going to assume that the chances of me being stabbed go up if I do choose to go there.

If I did get stabbed after wandering through a place known for gang violence, don’t you think that someone might just ask me what the fuck I was doing there? Would that be insensitive as all shit? OF COURSE! But does that make the question any less reasonable? Unfortunately, no.

We don’t have to like the truth. We don’t have to stop pushing towards the ideal world we all dream of, where we’ll all be safe all the time, but we do have to accept that there are certain things we can do to help protect ourselves from things we don’t want to happen to us.

None of this is excusing the actions of any sexual predator. I’d be in favour of castrating those pieces of shit who commit rape and other sexual crimes, but seeing your rapist punished is not nearly as good as avoiding being raped in the first place.

Focus

Like I said at the start, Ms Ford isn’t wrong, I just think she doesn’t understand the male side of the story. Pretending that rape is something that only happens to women and that every man is a rapist in waiting is so far from the truth that it’s offensive. It’s also offensive to pretend that women play no role in their own protection.

I don’t want women to live in fear, but I don’t think they should be so foolish as to pretend there aren’t dangerous people out in the world.

What people can do to massively impact the affect of rapists on society is to press charges against them, and I believe that is the most important thing to focus on. By reporting sexual assaults the perpetrator is more likely to be put in prison, and therefore more likely to be unable to assault anyone else.

I also think it’s essential to educate people about the situations in which sexual assaults occur, and how best to avoid being in those situations. I think it’s hugely important that people separate ‘blaming victims’ from analysing data and making useful suggestions based on the findings.

As for Ms Ford

I have no doubt Ms Ford is generating beneficial results already, even with a slightly askew take on things, I just hope she broadens her understanding of the issue of sexual assault. It’s obvious that Ms Ford’s heart is in the right place, and I believe that’s true of most women who are so vocal about ‘rape culture’.

Human being tip: If anyone has ever sexually assaulted you, it’s not your fault in any way. If you can handle the stress of reporting them, please do so.

ps: You might be interested in reading about how I dealt with an alcohol fueled, sexually charged situation, which I discuss in the Origins series.

A few weeks back, a video surfaced of some very angry Argentinian women attacking a group of male priests as they stood in defence of their cathedral.

[Warning: this video contains violence, vulgarity, and female nudity]

What the hell is going on here?

The reason for this conflict is because Argentina has strict laws which limit abortion. Abortions may only be conducted if the woman has been raped, or if she is mentally incapable of rearing a child. The women in the video are fighting for their rights to have control over their own bodies, to be able to choose to have abortions, and they blame the Catholic church for blocking the removal of religious based abortion laws through the Argentinian governmental system.

At a certain point in the video, the women are chanting:

“To the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church, who wants to get between our sheets, we say that we want to be whores, travesties and lesbians. Legal abortion in every hospital.”

I know that these issues are contentious, but my personal belief is that a woman has the right to choose what happens to her body, so in theory, I sympathise with these women.

But in action? Not so much.

The women in this video are attacking the men standing guard of their church. They swear at them, spray-paint the men’s crotches, draw swastikas on the foreheads of the men, perform lewd acts together in front of the men, and even force their naked bodies against the men, intentionally causing the men to touch their nipples, bums and vaginas. The women run around topless and even completely naked as they scream at the top of their lungs. They spit in the faces of the priests and violently attack them.

Why it’s so very wrong to behave this way

Fair play, sometimes it’s difficult not to lose your shit when you feel like you’re being oppressed. I get that. Trust me, I seriously do know what it’s like to want to punch people in the face because they’re mistreating you. The thing is, by actually following through with your urges to violence, you downgrade yourself. Regardless of the validity of your point, you won’t be taken seriously.

If you’ve just seen someone rip off their clothes and force a priest to touch their breast before drawing a swastika on his head, punching him in the face, spitting in his eyes and then masturbate in front of him while grinding against him, would you take that persons opinion seriously?

No! Of course you wouldn’t! How could you possibly separate their opinion from their ridiculous and vulgar actions?

In addition to the fact that much of the behaviour in this video is actually criminal, the bigger reason that it’s the wrong thing to do is that it damages the movement the women believe they are fighting for.

Imagine the thoughts running through the minds of these very religious men as they’re being spat upon and punched and spray-painted. The women in the video are living out what these priests believe to be the actions of temptation and sin. The women in the video are proving to their religious enemies that they can’t even protest without acting like Godless heathens.

Personally, I’m not religious, but even as a non religious person I still think it’s way beyond necessary to spit in a priests face because you disagree with the actions of the church. That’s like spitting at the kid who serves you at McDonalds because you’re unhappy with the company’s globalisation efforts. It’s not the kid’s fault and it’s not the priest’s fault, and spitting on them isn’t going to fix anything anyway.

These women claim to be feminists but behaviour like this makes it more difficult for the women’s movement to progress against a heavily religious government. It reinforces mistaken religious beliefs that women are temptresses designed to cause men to sin. It does the exact opposite of the intention of the protest. That’s why it’s a fucking terrible way to protest.

Better options

What better options do these women have? Pretty much every option except the one they’ve chosen.

In most places, women are near enough to half the population, so voting is an excellent way to bring about change. These women could have supported politicians who would go on to fight for their rights using the political system.

Another reasonably approach would have been to use the media, both domestically and abroad. Unlike only a few decades ago, we now have the opportunity to create and share journalistic content ourselves. We can make important issues known not just within our own small communities, but we can make our voices heard the world over.

In this particular case, though, I think the best way to stick it to the religious litigators would have been to have a peaceful protest. Instead of raging at the priests, treat them in the same exact way the women themselves are fighting to be treated… with respect and dignity. Imagine how differently the rest of the world would have reacted in 20,000 women had gathered around that church and stayed there for a week without damaging anything or hurting anyone. Imagine the positive message that would have brought for the women’s rights movement in Argentina. It would have shown the powers that be that these women are here and demand to be noticed, but that they’re civilized enough to have reasonably discussions about the problems they’re facing.

Learn from this

The fight to ensure women around the world are treated as equals to men is a very worthy cause. Believe it or not, the majority of blokes I know are also in favour of women being treated as equals. The problem is that the remaining bag of dickheads who do see women as inferior point at actions like those seen in this video as evidence which proves their outdated way of thinking.

I think the thing to take from seeing this clusterfuck of violence and criminal behaviour is to learn that you get far better outcomes by choosing not to lose your shit, even in the face of oppression and mistreatment. Like I said, I totally understand the urge to boil over with rage and go apeshit, but if it will only get you further away from what you’re really after, what do you gain from doing so?

The archaic structures that are still in place to limit people’s individual freedoms and rights are being smashed away more quickly than at any point in human history, but we must all be patient as we try to deconstruct these relics from yesterday.

Crazy bitch tip: Screaming and spitting do not help you get your point across effectively.

Okily dokily, this one’s pretty straight forward. There are many ways to negotiate but there’s one way that will immediately get you labeled as a crazy bitch.

The lady in this video was met with a difficult situation in which she was told the item she had for sale was not worth the value that she had been hoping to get for it. Instead of attempting to find out what it was worth, or accepting that she would not make the sale today, she instead explains that her boobs are real and pulls them out as something of value that she’d like some money for.

In case you hadn’t guessed, taking your breasts out and demanding money for them midway through negotiations is not the best way to go. It’s not even a good way to go if you’re a prostitute, let alone when you’re trying to sell something at a pawn shop.

So, to reiterate, if you’re trying to sell something and someone tells you it’s not worth what you want for it, do not take your boobies out and demand money for them instead. This is considered crazy bitch behaviour.

I should also also point out that I’m doing my best remember all this stuff accurately even thought it happened over 4 years ago. I’m confident that what I do remember is accurate, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I muddle up the sequence of events of this particular night. I doubt I’d remember much of it at all if I hadn’t been forced to think about it so much, but we’ll get to that later and why I’d rather forget the whole damned thing. For now, we’ll carry on from me being in bed with my boss’s daughter.

A face-full

I dived across the bed and went face first into boobtown. Rene absolutely loved it and sounded ridiculously happy about what was happening. She was giggling and running her hands through my hair and down my back. There was no confusion here. Rene Everlong had 100% intentionally gotten me into bed with her and was loving the fact that her efforts were paying off. We kissed. We touched. Clothes were thrown asunder in the same way those pesky hamburger wrappers are furiously discarded by teenagers as they attack the grease laden nourishment they’ve hunted down in a munchies-driven, fast food binge.

That is to say, there was passion in the moment.

A real man

Somewhere in the mix Rene said, “It’s been so long since I’ve been with a real man.”

I guess the point of her telling me that was for Rene to let me know that she viewed me as a real man, whatever the fuck that means, but I also took it to mean that she separates men into two categories: ‘real men’, and the rest. About that same time, Rene also mentioned that she liked that I was biting her neck by saying something about ‘rough’ being good.

I’m telling you these things that I’d rather keep private because they’re important to the story. For example, I liked hearing that Rene enjoyed a bit of roughness because I’d been with a few girls who were into that and I’d learned how to deliver what they liked. In the process, I’d discovered that there’s a level of rough play that is actually fun. I wouldn’t have ventured into that territory myself, but by learning about it with girls who really liked it, I discovered that it’s just another way to play. I grew to enjoy it and when Rene brought it up, it suggested to me that she was uninhibited and fun, and I dig that.

It’s funny, even at the time, when Rene said that thing about a ‘real man’, it caught my ear. It’s just one of those things. I don’t like that women see men that way and quite frankly I didn’t know what the hell she expected of me as this mythical ‘real man’ figure. I’m just a guy. I can kill bugs, open tight jars, lift heavy things, use a drill, and all that shit but beyond that, I don’t know what the hell a ‘real man’ is supposed to be.

Am I just a piece of ass to you?

At some point in the frolicking, my attention was drawn to Rene’s derriere. Rene was blessed with not only boobs that can convince a wary man to dive across a room at them, but also a back end that would easily illicit the phrase ‘dat ass’ on loop if she were to find herself in the sort of territory where that’s common vernacular. Yes, Rene was a weapon of mass seduction and I was being demolished and loving every second of it.

I was midway through enjoying caressing this sculpture of femininity when I mentioned to Rene that I’d always thought she had a great ass. Rene’s eyes lit up when I told her that and she asked me when I noticed her. I told her she had my attention from the very first time I met her. I was flattering her but I wasn’t lying.

I had been attracted to Rene for a very long time and I was really stoked that we’d finally gotten past the bullshit of dancing around the topic and had finally admitted that we were attracted to each other. At least, I thought that was the end of the bullshit.

Out of nowhere, Rene starts crying again!

Between her tears I heard her say, “Am I just a piece of ass to you?”.

“What? Why would you ask me that?”, I replied.
“Tell me the truth. Am I just a piece of ass to you?”, Rene said again as she continued to cry.
“No. You’re not just a piece of ass to me. I don’t understand why you’d think that.”, I told her.
“Because you were saying such nice things about my body”, she replied as I tried to wipe away her tears.

I was so confused. Here I was after all this effort to not hook up with my boss’s daughter and she finally had me in bed with her after I’d made it clear (as far as I was concerned) that I was interested in her, and she’s crying about the fact that I find her physically attractive!

Up until this point I’d assumed that it was clear to Rene that I was interested in her. I thought our actions were speaking louder than words and that it was unnecessary for me to actually say that I was interested in her, but there I was again, with my boss’s daughter crying at me because she thought I wasn’t interested in her, and for bonus points, this time she’s almost completely naked in my bed.

I wasn’t really ready to tell her that I’d been interested in her for a long time. I wasn’t looking to let that cat out of the bag so early on. There were many reasons for that, one of them being common sense. Another major reason was that I felt like I’d be putting myself in a very vulnerable situation, and I don’t do vulnerable. I’ll explain why a bit later, but I had a decision to make. I could keep my feelings to myself and watch the girl I’d been interested in for a long time cry in my bed because she thought I was only interested in using her for sex, or I could own up to my feelings.

Vulnerability

One big thing I’d been forced to acknowledge about myself after breaking up with the girl I’d been with for 6 years was that I didn’t allow myself to genuinely feel emotions. That was a strategy I’d taken on in my youth as a way to help me make it through my… let’s go with unconventional… childhood. I essentially would just block any sort of emotion before it got in so it couldn’t do any damage to me, but after that break-up with my ex, I’d come to the conclusion that my efforts to block out all the bad stuff was also causing me to miss out on all the good stuff too.

I figured you can never be truly happy if you don’t allow yourself to feel things, and I’d been working on that since. It wasn’t easy for me. Honestly, it was scary as shit! But I’d decided that was what I had to do if I wanted to be happy, and that I had to do so when the opportunity arose.

To me, Rene crying because I hadn’t shown her any genuine emotion was a prime example of how badly I was hurting myself by not allowing myself to genuinely feel things. So right there in that moment, I decided I’d fight through all the parts of me that were telling me not to open up to her, and be honest with her.

I told Rene that I’d noticed her the first time I met her and that I’d felt like there was some major chemistry between us ever since. I told her that I’d always looked forward to getting a chance to spend time with her and that anytime there was a work function, I was always hoping she’d be there. I explained that I’d had a crush on her for a long time. That I thought we had some sort of cool connection that’s really rare for me to find.

Rene was gleaming. Shit, I reckon you could have lit a street with the amount of glow she was putting out. And I felt good about it too. I felt like I’d broken past my own bullshit and that, whatever happened, that was an enormous step in the right direction for me.

Next time

The story of that ridiculous night isn’t over yet. I’ll try and get through the rest of it in Origins #11.

Crazy bitch tip: Figure out what you really want instead of chasing things down and then throwing them away.

Emma Watson is not a crazy bitch. Emma Watson is awesome and she’s doing awesome things.

We all know Emma from her origins as an actor in the Harry Potter films but since her early years as the face of a strong female character, Emma has herself grown into a strong female character. Emma is a wonderful example of a woman, and a great example of the opposite of a crazy bitch.

In the following video, we see Ms Watson speak to the UN about women’s rights.

Importantly, Emma pointed out that feminism shouldn’t be about man-hating. This is an extremely important aspect of the mess that has become of the resurgence of the feminist movement. This is an observation which is lost on far too many women, who instead of looking for ways to help us to move towards the ideal scenario of equality for all, choose instead to blame men as if they’re the cause of any and all inequality that exists.

Emma Watson is a great example of a stunningly beautiful woman who has not rested on her aesthetic advantage. Unlike so many other child actors who go off the rails, become addicted to substances and squander their fortunes. Ms Watson has instead taken the advantages life has provided her and used them as a launching pad to bring positive change to the world.

Note that you don’t tend to hear about Ms Watson having tantrums or showing off her wealth or having twitter wars over insignificant shit. Isn’t that a wonderful change? That’s just another point in her favour.

I’ve mentioned before that I highly doubt the ‘reality’ of reality tv, but however little actual reality is in the tv show, there’s often still value to take from the stories as they’re shown anyway. Like in this video…

OK, so let’s ignore the fact that nobody in this video was surprised that there happened to be camera crews all over the place and that Mr Ring Seller acted like he was trying to get away with something despite the fact that he would obviously have seen at least two cameraman filming him and the lady at the counter. Let’s pretend this is actually real and see what we can get out of it.

There’s obviously a lot of wrong going on. For starters, the guy trying to pawn his girlfriend’s ring seems like a real scumbag, the fact that he’s trying to pawn his girlfriend’s ring certainly serves as evidence of his scumbaggery. The reason he’s trying to pawn it, to get motorcycle parts, is further evidence that he’s a pretty shitty dude because, y’know paying for food or covering rent, or paying for urgent medical treatment are really the only remotely excusable reasons for pawning someone else’s stuff.

Then we’ve got his girlfriend who clearly suspects her boyfriend of being a shady motherfucker and isn’t all that surprised that he’s pawning her ring. She is somewhat surprised that he’s pawning it for parts for his bike, but whatever. So the girlfriend decides to let her boyfriend know that she doesn’t like his behaviour by slapping him in the face in the middle of a crowded shop.

That’s not enough for her though. As he continues to reinforce how much of a scumbag he is by not owning up to what he was actually doing, she punches him square in the face. Right there in the middle of a shop, apparently with camera crews roaming all over the place, this angry little woman decides the best course of action in regards to catching her boyfriend trying to pawn her ring is to punch him directly in the face.

I’ve written before about why you should never hit a man. I rank hitting a guy as crazy bitch behaviour because nothing good can come from it. All it does is escalate a situation into violence, which is a terrible idea. Strangely enough though, I don’t think that the girlfriend hitting the boyfriend is the craziest part of this video.

The craziest part to me, is that she says: “Come on. Let’s go.” to him at the end. What the fuck? This guy just stole her jewellery to pawn it for parts for his motorcycle and he’s clearly been such a shitbag to her so many times that she resorts to physical assault as a means of communicating her dissatisfaction with him this time! How the hell is this “relationship” going to end up in anything but a shitty breakup somewhere down the track?

Any woman who has self respect and was thinking clearly would have left his arse there and never spoken to him again. Yep, hitting him was a crazy bitch manoeuvre, but that’s way less crazy than staying with a scumbag who treats you like shit.

So the moral of this story is to stop accepting mistreatment by scumbag, dickhead, douchebags. The more time you spend with people like this, the more likely you are to accept their shitty behaviour as if it’s just how they are and find a way to put up with it. DO NOT PUT UP WITH IT! You’re better off single than being with a scumbag who makes you feel bad about yourself and tries to get away with doing bullshit behind your back.

Crazy bitch tip: Give people one chance, if they fuck you over, fuck them off.